Danisco’s Cultures Unveils Natural Cellular Protection Against Viruses

23/03/07 Today in Science, researchers from Danisco laboratories open new perspectives in the battle against viral infections with a publication of the results of their ground-breaking research on microbial acquired immunity. Danisco’s scientists have established for the first time the relationship between CRISPR and resistance against bacteriophages (bacterial viruses). CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) form peculiar regions in the genome of numerous bacterial species.

“These results represent a long searched and entirely natural solution to bacteriophage for all culture-using industries where phage attacks are causing downgraded product batches and significantly reduced yield”, says Patrick Boyaval, Innovation Director in Dangé-Saint-Romain laboratories in France.

The research was carried out by an international team of Danisco scientists from R&D sites in France and the USA, in collaboration with Sylvain Moineau’s research group from Université Laval, in Canada. It springs from the use of specific R&D platforms developed internally to analyse key strains widely used in the industry and naturally enhance their resistance against phages while retaining their functionalities.

Danisco will exploit these breakthrough findings on CRISPR and the related patent applications to develop food cultures with enhanced resistance to infections by bacteriophages. Such unique and improved commercial cultures should further strengthen Danisco’s position as a world leader in Biotechnology.